Review

Where was the sting in the tale?

Wisdom is not the same as cleverness. Wise people know this; clever people
don’t. Child Genius is a series that looks at children’s
competitive intelligence tests — almost an oxymoron — in a manner that’s
familiar from US spelling bees. It is a programme about many things, but not
the cleverness of children. The kids are smart in the way that prodigious
children tend to be: good at mathematics, memory, seeing patterns, music and
chess. They tend to be less good at making friends, self-awareness and
dressing themselves.

As an adult, your first and instinctive reaction on seeing a very, very bright
child is, for God’s sake, don’t point a camera at them. They are desperate
people-pleasers, having spent their lives being made to perform; and their
sense of self-worth is all about showing off to their parents. Making a film
about these overperforming, underdeveloped kids is a Tristram’s cruelty.
Their pert